Mbalula says certain airlines aren’t complying with Covid-19 regulations

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula says concerns have been raised regarding Covid-19 non-compliance on certain airlines.

Mbalula was speaking at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Saturday where he inspected its adherence to Covid-19 regulations and directions.

“I received a complaint that some of the airlines are not observing the regulations on board and they have totally lapsed in relation to the regulations.

“There is no enforcement of masks, there is no sanitising and all of that, we want to deal with that,” Mbalula said.

“We can’t allow airlines to break the measures that have been set by government in relation to observing stringent measures when it comes to safety on board.”

International travel

As South Africa prepared for Level 1 of lockdown, Mbalula said his department was looking into allowing international travel.

“It is top on our agenda to look at this and as we do that, we benchmark ourselves against other countries.”

Mbalula added that the reopening of international travel would be guided by science.

“It is not just going to be an opening for everybody just like that, we are going to benchmark ourselves and look at the scientific measures that we need to take into consideration,” he said.

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